The Names That Surround Us
by NamesAreFutile
Summary: Annabeth tends to surprise Percy...a lot. Sequel to My Name In Writing. You really should read that before this if you don't want to be confused. Soulmate AU. One-shot.


**OMG! I can't believe the response my last story was getting and my friend was proud and jealous at the same time and it was just so amazing! Anyway, this is written in Percy's POV, I don't own these characters, blah blah blah.**

 **Thank you people who read My Name in Writing and reviewed. I hope that you won't find this too cliché and stuff.**

 **I am REALLY sorry if you think that this is horrible and a waste of your time. Feel free to flame me but I prefer constructive criticism.**

 **I will just remind you people that this school doesn't have hallways, you have to walk outside to get to certain buildings like the maths and English building**

* * *

Percy tried to comprehend what just happened. A bunch of girls came up and started asking questions, then Annabeth went crazy and kissed him. He honestly didn't know what to think. He had known this girl for under a week and she had already kissed him. Although, Percy had some friends who were soulmates that had their first kiss after a week of dating (they planned it the night before. He thought that was just plain strange) and they were only 13 at the time.

All of his friends were talking excitedly and making bets on when he should expect his first child. Percy groaned but laughed a little anyway. His friends were the biggest dorks. He was also glad that the random girls had left, leaving him with people he was comfortable with.

The bell rang, leaving them all grumbling and lazily getting up off the ground. Percy ran off to his locker, only to find that Annabeth wasn't there. He sighed and took his books out of his locker. Percy walked towards his next class (music) and was hoping to be able talk to Annabeth before class started. It was a kind of pulling feeling, like he just wanted to talk and be with her. His mother had described it to him before, the feeling of finding the person who would just be perfect for you. Percy found that connection with Annabeth.

He kind of felt like a giddy school girl from some B-grade movie. He just wanted to be with her and to be able to tell everyone the she was his. Although…Annabeth had already done that for him. Percy wanted to be the one to initiate the first kiss, just like a real man! **(AN: For all you anime lovers out there, Fairy Tail reference! Elfman is the best! [I only wish that they would finally kiss though… NaLu forever!])**.

He arrived in front of the music room to see that the teacher had yet to arrive. Annabeth was awkwardly talking to a bunch of people. From what Percy could hear, he deduced that they were asking a LOT of questions about him. He moved closer to the group and put his hand up in greeting.

"Hi." Percy said. "Did I hear my name?"

Annabeth rolled his eyes at him. "Way to sound like an arrogant prick. But yeah, they're asking me questions about you. How am I supposed to know what performing at Southbank is like, I wasn't the one performing!" She sounded pretty annoyed. He guessed that she couldn't wait until the teacher comes so that she could escape this torture.

Well, it looks like she would get her wish as a man came walking up across the concrete towards them, swinging the keys to the classroom in front of him. As the class filed into the classroom, Percy whispered in Annabeth's ear.

"From your actions, would it be safe to ask you out now?"

"Yeah, you can. There is this place I want to go and since you volunteered, I will take you to this place on Saturday." She had an evil smirk on her face, but she had an excited gleam in her eyes that made him agree. He was still quite scared though.

* * *

When Saturday morning rolled around, Percy was waiting for Annabeth in the den. He was curious about the place Annabeth wanted to show him. He never got an answer from her (she was showing her sneaky, domineering side). She liked knowing something that he didn't. She would just smirk, ruffle his hair and walk away. When he asked Rachel and Piper, they just shook their heads and smiled in sympathy. Then they walked away just as Annabeth did and patted him on the shoulder. He really wanted to know what everyone was going on about. What is so bad about this store?! Maybe it was a place where you tried out torture weapons, and he was the practise dummy. Maybe it was a cosmetics store where he would be forced to endure hours of pain in a cloud smelling of vanilla and raspberries (Silena and his mum had taken him to one once, it was horrible!).

There was a knock on the door to the den and it opened to reveal Annabeth, ready to go out. She had a bright spark of excitement in her eyes. Percy warmed at the thought of Annabeth being excited to go out with him.

She didn't even bother with hellos. She just grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the house, shouting out a quick goodbye to his mum. They walked down the pathway in silence. As they were walking along, Percy noticed Annabeth's hand swinging gently next to him, her arm brushing his side occasionally. He slipped his hand into her own and laughed as she jumped slightly.

"Did you know," he said, "that a really good way to freak someone out is to grab their hand suddenly?" She grumbled a bit but he could see the smile on her face. They spent the rest of the walk hand in hand. Neither of them wanting to break their hold on each other.

Percy found himself being dragged into the local shopping centre. She led him across the shopping centre, in the direction of a beauty store. He could feel himself panicking. He started to come up with excuses on why he should go home when Annabeth pulled him into a dark shop with random bursts of colour. He looked around and saw that he was in one of the comic shops where you can buy bobble-head dolls and plushies of your favourite shows.

He felt himself sigh with relief. He didn't know how he would handle it if Annabeth was one of THOSE girls. He was still confused as to why Annabeth brought him here. Why were people giving him pitying looks as he walked by? This place seemed pretty normal.

Annabeth's face was shining with delight and she skipped down to the far corner of the shop. Percy followed her through a maze of shelves until he reached Annabeth. There, he was surrounded by anime. There were posters of busty girls with gorgeous, almost feminine guys. There were cross-dressers and talking animals. It was kind of scary but also interesting at the same time.

She was staring at a row of manga volumes and anime DVDs. A girl walked up to her whom he recognised to be Thalia. They started pointing at the brightly coloured merchandise and talking animatedly, their sentences punctuated by squeals. He stood there uncomfortably, wondering what to do.

Annabeth then turned around to him, an apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry Percy, I forgot that I was supposed to be out with you." He shook his head and smiled, she was troublesome. He saw Thalia shoot Annabeth a questioning look and waggled her eyebrows a bit. Annabeth's response was to roll her eyes and turn away.

"Soooo…why did you bring me here Annabeth?" Percy asked, still thoroughly confused.

"This shop just opened up and I brought you here as a date so that I can teach you about the wonders of fangirling. In your case, being a fanboy." Annabeth explained. She started to ramble. "It is a little known fact that fanboys are worse than fangirls. Fanboys are worse because they are more opinionated. Being opinionated is one of the traits of a fan." Percy pressed his finger against her lips.

"Shhh. Hush young child." But she just gazed up at him with puppy dog eyes and he found himself walking home with a bag with a plush toy of a bunny rabbit (something about an Usa-chan?) and a smoothie. Annabeth was happily slurping on her smoothie, merrily skipping down the cracked pavement. She had somehow managed to get him to buy their drinks for them plus snacks for his 'education' as she called it.

She was going to force him to watch an anime that she had already put in her bag (sneaky girl, she always has a plan). They had bought Pringles, brownies and leomande. When they got back to the house, Annabeth told him to go and set up the DVD in the lounge room while she set up the snacks.

While he was setting up the movie, Sally came in and opened her mouth, ready to speak but Percy cut her off.

"Yes, I held her hand. No, I did not kiss her, why are you even wondering about that? Yes, I paid for the snacks."

Sally huffed. "You just ruined all of my fun. I will leave now so you two can snuggle or something." She ran out as he threw a cushion at the back of her head, missing her as she raced out into the hall.

Annabeth came in holding the tray of delicious delights, excited and ready to start his education of anime. They settled down on the squashy couch and pressed play. The theme song for Ouran High School Host Club started. Annabeth had told him that this was the anime that Thalia used to introduce her to anime when she was 12 as she used to hate anime. She grew to love it and turned into a total Weeaboo.

Percy was entranced by the story taking place on the screen. The first episode was confusing and the second was a bit weird but by the third one he was delighted by it. What made anime different was not only the art style, but also because the show focuses on the characters with the story shaping around them instead of the other way around like every other show had.

They sat there watching episode after episode until Percy felt someone breathe down his neck and he let out a shout of astonishment. He turned behind him to see the face of his best friend.

"Grover!" Percy Jumped up and gave him a 'bro' hug which consisted of them slapping each other on the back and squeezing each other very tightly. Girls scorn the man hug but it is a very sacred tradition, passed down from the men before them.

Grover looked up at the television screen. "I love that anime! Juniper got me hooked." He started singing along to the theme song while Percy stared at him in disbelief. He cleared his throat.

"Uh, G-Man? Who's Juniper?"

"Oh, uh…" Grover fiddled with the collar of his shirt nervously, "she's my, uh, soulmate." Percy stilled for a few moments, just blinking.

"So, when do I get to meet her?" Grover cleared his throat and called out for someone. A pretty girl came into the room. Her hands were clasped together, showing that she was nervous. Percy spared a glance at Annabeth and saw that she was still engrossed in the TV.

"Um…hi." The girl squeaked, clearly not comfortable. Annabeth seemed to suddenly spring to life. She jumped up and bounded over to the girl.

"Gosh, you're so cute! I am going to go and clean up the kitchen, do you want to come and help me?" She ushered the girl away and shot him a wink over her shoulder. Percy sighed in relief. She was obviously trying to give them time to talk while taking the girl (she must be Juniper) away from people.

Grover swallowed. "Yeah, so…you just met my girlfriend, Juniper."

"How…How did you meet?" For Percy, he felt nostalgic after meeting her. Both he and Grover wanted to find their soulmates at the same time as to not cause the curse of the 3rd wheel. It looks as though their childish musings had come to fruition.

"I was at a special sustainability seminar and I met her when we got to the bit where we plant trees in a plot of land. I was struggling to get my tree stable when she came over and gently helped me. Her hands looked beautiful all covered in dirt-" Percy held up his hand.

"Okay, you need to stop there. All of the glitter rainbows and flowers that are spewing out of your mouth are making me sick." Grover just smiled a happy, love-struck smile. He then bombarded Percy with questions on Annabeth and he recounted the tale of the start of their romance.

"So Annabeth had to hurt her foot for you to find out? Real smooth Percy. But I will give you points for how horribly cheesy that was and how you were the one emitting rainbows when you were fondling her foot." Percy bristled a bit at Grover's comments.

"Yeah well…what's taking the girls so long?" Real smooth subject change Percy. Ten out of ten.

"I don't know." Grover started to get up. "Let's go check on them." They walked over to the door and heard the sound of 3 voices. Sally was in there with them.

"…I knew as soon as I saw him that I was going to fall in love with him, regardless of the soulmates thing. He was just so…dazzling." Percy leaned in closer to the door. His mum was telling them the story of his father. "I spent the whole of my holiday being with him. I was drunk on his presence. We were in love even though we weren't soulmates.

"When we found out that I was pregnant, he was delighted. He thought that between the two of us, we would make the most gorgeous baby. One day though, he came home with news. He had found his actual soulmate, and he was obligated to stay with her and not his child.

"I told him that people who were meant to be together should be together and said that I would be fine. He wanted to buy me a beautiful house where the baby and I could live peacefully but I would have none of it. I needed to take care of the child without having to lean on anybody. I left Montauk that day and went back to my little town house where I would spend the next stage of my life."

Percy quietly turned the doorknob and pulled the door open. He peeked inside to see the three girls sitting on the kitchen bench. They looked up at him and smiled, seeing the product of the love of two people. Annabeth motioned for him to come outside with her.

"Listen Percy, I have to go home now but I just want to say something." She looked into his eyes and clasped her hands over his. "Make sure that your mum finds happiness, okay? She deserves that much." He grinned softly, almost fondly.

"I know. I know that more than anybody." He hugged her goodbye and watched her jog down the street underneath the blue/pink sky. He turned to see Grover and Juniper at the front door.

"We're leaving too but don't expect Juniper to hug you." He waved them off, again watching figures retreating down the street. He went inside to see his mum filing through old baby photographs of him. He sat down next to her and out his arm around her. They sat like this for God only knows how long, as Mother and Son. Looking through pictures of their life together.

* * *

 **As I said before, FEEL FREE TO FLAME. But criticism is appreciated more. This was just me trying to enhance my writing abilities and fangirl at the same time. I'm really sorry if this sounded rushed or anything.**


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